Wildlife Agency Appears Uncaring

September 27, 2005|Steven Rosen Davie

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel on Sept. 9 featured yet another article on the beleaguered gopher tortoises whose fate lies in the hands of the state Legislature and their sergeant-at-arms, the Florida Wildlife Commission.

The article stated over 55 people had angrily written the Wildlife Commission regarding the poor now-threatened tortoises.

I went one step further and e-mailed the agency through their Web site. I tried my best to provoke some sense of remorse in my e-mail and was surprised to be contacted by one. For 45 minutes, as long as I could keep him on the phone, I tried every tactic I could come up with to generate some sense of remorse for the gopher tortoises who are buried alive with the blessings and permits from the Florida Wildlife Commission.

All attempts to provoke a sense of remorse from this staffer yielded was laughter over the phone. He went so far as to ask me if I owned land in Florida, hinting that animals had to be killed so I could have a home.

People of Florida remember: This agency has no heart or soul. They are not caretakers of wildlife, but are the arm of powerful developer lobbies that want only to develop the undeveloped with no restrictions. Their powerful lobbyists in the state Legislature have corralled any attempt at mercy for wildlife where development is concerned, just as lobbyists in the sugar industry controlled those same elected legislators when it came to thwarting phosphate reduction in the Everglades.

So fellow Floridians, don't waste your time with the Florida Wildlife Commission, as they along with the legislative branch do not have your interests at heart, only our tax dollars in their pockets. The lobbyists really are in control of our elected officials.

Please consider this when you vote next year and see the same "familiar" names you always vote for. It's time for change while there is still time for such change to be meaningful.